Four checks.
It is an unusual way to measure time but for the unemployed it seems as reasonable as, say, the time between job reviews. I might have said “paychecks,” but getting a paycheck is different then receiving an unemployment payment.
A paycheck is recognition of productivity. It substantiates that you have done something for someone and that the something has value. It allows society to look at you as a contributor.
Unemployment compensation, on the other hand, substantiates that you have not been productive, have done nothing of value, and are not a contributor to society.
At least, that is how you come to feel.
That is how I felt recently as I watched Congress debate ( for the unemployed it is either Judge Judy, a Soap, or CSPAN ) how long unemployment compensation should last? The Republicans in the House Tuesday decided that time had run out for the long-term unemployed. They also decided that if you make about $50,000, you could afford to pay the higher taxes that they have fought against placing on the richest one percent in the country.
By any measure, I have about 22 weeks of unemployment benefits left. Twenty-two weeks in a recession that has lasted about 10 times that long. Of course, the GOP leaders that voted to deny unemployment compensation to those in need, or to raise taxes on the lower and middle class, don’t have to worry about unemployment. They have made sure they are set for life with pensions and other like compensation.
I suppose the GOP leadership sees this as a way to delay any economic recovery and in so doing try and unseat President Barack Obama. That primary goal leaves us, the pawns, somewhere in a difficult situation.
But what do they care? They have gone home for the holidays and left millions of Americans counting the weeks.
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